The present invention is directed primarily to a manually held toothbrush which would include a handle and a head. With conventional manual toothbrushes, cleaning elements, such as tufts of bristles, are mounted to the head. When toothpaste is applied to the cleaning elements the user inserts the head into the mouth and brushes the teeth in a known manner.
Conventionally, a toothbrush head is of one piece construction which is elongated and symmetrical in shape on each side of the longitudinal center line. Generally, the head includes fixed bristles extending outwardly from one surface of the head. Attempts have been made to provide additional flexibility to the bristles by permitting some movement of the bristles during use of the toothbrush. A number of patents, for example, disclose utilizing a pivotal or ball joint mounted on the toothbrush head to permit such movement. U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,866, for example, discloses an articulate toothbrush wherein a pivot joint connects the handle and head. All of the bristles are mounted to the pivotable head. U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,421 discloses a toothbrush wherein the head includes a pair of carriers each of which is retained by a ball member; alternatively, a single ball member is used for all of the carriers. No other bristles are included in the head. A similar approach is disclosed in patent abstracts of Japan publication No. 06327517.
Another approach is to have a plurality of individually mounted groups of bristles secured to a respective ball, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,263,802 and Russian patent SU 1752336. The head includes no fixed bristles. A similar approach is utilized in a hairbrush disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,222.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,922 discloses a toothbrush with a universal joint for two segments located outwardly of the head with the joints being disposed in a longitudinal direction. Accordingly, the head actually includes the two separate sections which extend outwardly from the head. The head itself may also be attached to the handle by a ratchet ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,870 discloses a toothbrush having a flexibly mounted bristles wherein the bristles are mounted on a resilient lattice network.